… interesting tidbits of release engineering.

Bluetooth Finder for Fitbit

Pro tip - if you have a Fitbit or other small BLE device, go get a
“bluetooth finder” app for your smartphone or tablet. NOW. No thanks
needed.

I ended up spending far-too-long looking for my misplaced black fitbit
One last weekend. Turned out the black fitbit was behind a black sock on
a shelf in a dark closet. (Next time, I’ll get a fuchsia colored on – I
don’t have too many pairs of fuchsia socks.)

After several trips through the house looking, I thought I’d turn to
technology. By seeing where in the house I could still sync with my
phone, I could confirm it was in the house. I tried setting alarms on
the fitbit, but I couldn’t hear them go off. (Likely, the vibrations
were completely muffled by the sock. Socks - I should just get rid of
them.)

Then I had the bright idea of asking the interwebs for help. Surely, I
couldn’t be the first person in this predicament. I was rewarded with
this FAQ on the fitbit site, but I’d already followed those
suggestions.

Finally, I just searched for “finding bluetooth”, and discovered the tv
ads were right: there is an app for that! Since I was on my android
tablet at the time, I ended up with Bluetooth Finder, and found my
Fitbit within 5 minutes. (I also found a similar app for my iPhone, but I
don’t find it as easy to use. Displaying the signal strength on a meter
is more natural for me than watching dB numbers.)